A Comprehensive Review Of The Civil Liberty Debate On Abortion.

What subject has been more controversial for the last several decades than abortion? Since the decriminalization of abortion in 19731, thousands have been performed every year in the United States. Whether you are a pro-life or right-to-life supporter, or a pro-choice advocate, there are compelling arguments. Both sides use proven statistics, as well as emotional appeal to establish their points. Pro-choice groups speak to the rights of a woman to choose what she wants to do with her body as a matter of freedom. Aside from personal choice, they believe that there are certain circumstances where abortion may be required due to medical reasons. Pro-life proponents

One of the first moral issues addressed by both sides of the abortion debate concerns a pregnant woman’s so-called natural “right” to make “reproductive choices.” (“The Rights of Pregnant Women”) Anti-abortion advocacy groups claim that “the only way to actually protect the mother’s rights will be by enforcing laws that secure her child’s right to life,” (“Argument 2”) whereas pro-abortion groups contend that these laws “create a dangerous precedent for wide-ranging government intrusion into the lives of all women.” (“The Rights”) With two fundamentally contrasting viewpoints at odds with each other, it is apparent that one of the core issues concurrent with abortion is a woman’s rights versus the rights of her unborn fetus.

In today’s society, the separation of church and state is a fundamentally important aspect of our government. Most any citizen would agree that the government should operate based on the law and the constitution, not on the individual 's religious beliefs, yet when the issue is Abortion, that stance is flipped. The debate over abortion rages on despite the supreme court giving women the right to abortion in 1973 with the ruling of Roe v Wade. Looking at both sides objectively, the pro-choice arguments lineup with facts, while the pro-life arguments are either supported by facts yet purposefully misinterpreted, or simply not factual at all. State governments pass laws that regulate abortions and abortion centers all in the attempt to close these centers down and stop women from getting abortions at all, including situations of rape or incest. Just as the government in Brave New World controls the bodies of women by keeping them on contraceptives and controlling their bodily functions through medication, the American government seeks the same control over what women do and don’t do with their body by denying them abortions and birth control.

In contemporary America it can be argued that nothing is more contentious and controversial of an issue than abortion. From the vehement pro-life movement to the impassioned pro-choice coalition, this policy issue is one that has become increasingly important in our society. This debate has raised important questions regarding the value of human life, at what stage of development does a fetus have it’s constitutionally ensured rights take hold over that of the mother and at what stage can a state start regulating abortions.

Abortion for many years now has been a very controversial topic politically and culturally. Democrats are considered to be pro-choice for women rights to abortion, while the Republicans are against abortion due to their conservative culture. Women's right to have abortions have been violated by both state and federal government laws. Laws regulating women's right to an abortion is unconstitutional because the laws prohibits women from making their own decision whether or not to have an abortion performed. Women should have the right to an abortion with out any regulations by the state and federal governments because they may not be able to financial support the child or it may been an

The controversy surrounding abortion has been long debated since the Roe v Wade case (1973) as pro-life advocates and pro-choice advocates go neck to neck on whether the process should be banned or remain legal. According to APA (American Psychological Association), abortion is the “medical or surgical termination of a pregnancy and is one of the oldest, most common and most controversial medical procedures”. To be Pro-Life means to be against the termination of a fetus; one who is not in favor of the practice. Pro-life advocates believe a woman should continue the pregnancy and deliver the baby no matter the circumstance. Pro-choice represents those who believe the woman deserves a choice to carry the baby or have an abortion. Although the 1973 Roe vs Wade case legalized abortion, abortion is still currently a much heated debate in America as the surgical procedure is possibly on the verge of becoming illegalized. However, abortion should definitely remain legal for various reasons such as individual freedom, victim protection, life opportunities, failed contraception, and it is not fair for the government to make such crucial decisions for a woman’s life.

Regardless of the opinions surrounding abortion, a majority of people are familiar with the Supreme court cases of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These two cases have played a tremendous role in regard to the abortion debate. In 1973, the Roe v. Wade case was ruled in favour of Roe and stated the stringent criminalization of abortion in Texas was deemed unconstitutional under the fourteenth amendment. The law violated the right of privacy, which implied the privacy of a woman’s decision to an abortion. Although the courts agreed with Roe, they also recognized the rights to an abortion are not absolute. Limitations to the right was based on the trimesters of pregnancy with the first trimester protecting the woman’s choice and the third trimester being acceptable for states to regulate or even ban abortions outside of therapeutic reasons.

One of the strongest arguments for abortion is the government has no right to interfere with a woman’s reproductive health decisions. The United States is not ruled by God, and the constitution is a non-religious document which affords us a right to privacy. The Supreme Court agreed with this argument as evident by their decision in the Roe vs. Wade case of 1973. Seven Supreme Court justices ruled in favor of Roe while two dissented. Blackmun, one of the justices in favor, based his decision on three arguments: First, abortion laws were originally intended to protect the mother, not the fetus. Second, abortion procedures were improved and safer. Finally, the fetus had not been granted legal status as a person. The following excerpt is from “Roe vs Wade: Abortion and a Woman’s Right to Privacy” by Melissa Higgins. “Regarding the Fourteenth Amendment, Texas’s abortion law violated the due process clause, which protects a person’s right to privacy from state action. This included a woman’s right to end her pregnancy. On this point, Blackmun wrote,

As a consequence, the ruling set the path toward new restrictive abortion laws that can completely block having an abortion. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016), the Court recognized an undue burden was placed when Texas placed restrictions on the delivery of abortion providers. Justice Ginsburg, concurring with the majority states, “When a State severely limits access to safe and legal procedures, women in desperate circumstances… , faute de mieux, at great risk to their health and safety” (“Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt” Cornell 10). Having limited options to an abortion will lead women to another alternative that consists of an unsafe abortion. While this ruling upheld women’s right to a safe and legal abortion, States still have the opportunity to intervene and persuade women to not get an abortion as seen in Hellerstedt. Through the rulings made in Roe, Casey, and Hellerstedt, society has slowly progressed in accepting women have the basic liberty to control reproduction. Some individuals have learned to put aside their religious and moral beliefs when it comes to making a decision that will affect women. Overall, the United States still remains at conflict over the controversial subject of abortion. We as a nation have learned women have the basic liberty to decide over their body and terminate a pregnancy,

Abortion is a controversial topic that has plagued the country for decades. Even after the 7-2 Supreme Court trial (Roe vs. Wade) made it legal for women to choose to get abortions. This decision was based off the right of privacy coupled with the agreement between the woman and the state. Due to this decision abortion rights vary from state to state, in fact, about 85% of United States counties do not provide abortion services. Even though, abortion is ten times safer than the actual process of giving birth and 68,000 women died from resorting to “back-alley abortions.” Knowing all this, there are still two main groups arguing

The court also recognized that the right to privacy is not absolute and that a state has valid interests in protecting maternal health and protecting potential life. A state is allow to ban abortion after viability, except when it is necessary to protect a woman’s life or health. The ability to make this personal health care decision has also enabled women to pursue educational and employment opportunities that were often denied before the Roe case, The Supreme Court noted that “the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives” (Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1992). According to the Economist, "Roe v. Wade may have liberated many women; yet it has also trapped America in an irresolvable clash of absolutes. On April 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court gave politicians the permission to interfere in the private health care decisions of women and families by creating the first federal law banning abortion procedures. The federal government made a decision to ban and criminalizes abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy . This ban affects more than just the women who need second-trimester abortions due to the fact that the Court's decision dismissed more than 30 years of precedent that prioritize women’s health when it came to laws that cast restriction on abortions. In the states that have passed laws similar to this, many women and their families were put into agonizing and tragic situations; being unable to end a pregnancy for serious medical reasons (Federal and State Bans and Restrictions on Abortion). As Politicians across the country succeed in restricting access to abortion, women are facing the consequences. Laws that restrict access to abortion hurt women's

The United States has been divided now over the issue of abortion for thirty-three years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. As of today, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Pro-choice advocates hold these 45 million abortions as being 45 million times women have exercised their right to choose to get pregnant and to choose to control their own bodies. To pro-life, or anti-abortion, advocates these 45 million abortions constitute 45 million murders, a genocide of human life in the United States propagated by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. The debate over abortion in the United States is thus a debate of two extremes. One side argues from the personal liberty of the mother. The

The issue of abortion is notoriously controversial. Since the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling in Casey v. Planned Parenthood, states have enacted different restrictions on the procedure. These restrictions vary from state to state. Nineteen states currently have laws prohibiting partial-birth abortion, and forty-one states strictly prohibit abortions except in cases of life-endangerment. One particularly incendiary area of abortion law is that of public funding. However, as of this year there are only seventeen states that cover abortion procedures through public funding. In this paper we will discuss federal abortion legislation, while describing the laws and political ideologies of the following states: Texas, California, New

The Griswold v. Connecticut is greatly remarkable and struck controversy in the hearts of many. Thus, in relation to the Griswold v. Connecticut case is yet another controversial case decided seven years later, Roe v. Wade (1973). This case serves as a landmark case involving the issue of privacy under the due process clause, however consisted of moderately different facts compared to the Griswold v. Connecticut case, in that a pregnant woman brought to Court, in the state of Texas, the proscribing dispute to terminate a pregnancy, which under Texas law abortion subsisted as a criminal statute. The rather surprising aspect of this case was the Courts ruled it as constitutional. The Supreme Court ruled, in a 7-2 vote, that the rights of a woman to decide whether or not to become a mother is a right to privacy, which is protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. Individual freedom is crucial in this case in that a mother should have the decision to abort a pregnancy. In the majority opinion, provided by Justice

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before birth, resulting in, or accompanied by the death of the fetus. ("Abortion," Encarta 98). In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, dramatically changed the legal landscape of American abortion law. The result of the ruling required abortion to be legal for any woman; regardless of her age and for any reason during the first seven months of pregnancy, and for almost any reason after that. ("Status of Abortion in America"). In the Roe v. Wade case, Roe (Norma McCorvey), had claimed she was gang raped and attempted to have an abortion in Texas. ("Roe and Doe"). After hearing the case, the Supreme Court ruled that an American’s right to privacy included the right of a woman whether or not to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference, at least in the first trimester of pregnancy. ("Celebrating 25 Years of Reproductive Choice"). The moral issue of abortion—whether or not it is murder—has been debated since it was legalized in 1973. Roe v. Wade has been one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. ("Roe No More"). More than two decades since the Supreme Court first upheld a woman’s right to abortion, the debate over the morality and legality of induced abortion continues in the United States. ("Abortion," Encarta 98). Abortion is one of the most divisive and emotional issues facing United States policy makers today. ("Economics of